Buch Nasty by Jared Carrabis
Sloppy outing for Buchholz cost Sox the game, series


Less than 24 hours after having a walk-off win rubbed in their face in extra innings, the Red Sox took another blow courtesy of the Oakland A’s.

Clay Buchholz, who was making his first start since June 26 in San Francisco, showed signs of being a little rusty on the mound. Buchholz entered his start on Wednesday with a mark of 3.7 walks per nine innings. The Boston right-hander walked two of the first four batters he faced in the first inning.

Luckily, none of the runs would cross home, as Buchholz pitched his way out of the inning with a 1-0 lead.

Boston’s first inning run was pushed across when Adrian Beltre knocked one of his three hits on the evening into centerfield to drive in Jed Lowrie, who made his season debut on Wednesday.

Just like the night before, the Red Sox would get out to an early lead, give it up, and not get it back.

The first major league home run of Matt Watson’s career in the second inning tied the score at one, as Jack Cust’s two-run bomb to center in the next inning gave Oakland a 3-1 lead.

In the top of the fifth, Lowrie collected his first hit and RBI of 2010 to bring the Red Sox within a run, but Buchholz’s struggles would continue in the bottom half of the inning. Buchholz allowed back-to-back singles to start the inning, and manager Terry Francona had seen enough.

Scott Atchison took over from there, allowing an RBI single to Mark Ellis, and a two-run base hit to Rajai Davis, who was thrown out at second trying to extend it into a double.

Trailing by four in the top of the sixth, the red-hot Beltre stepped to the plate and delivered yet again. With Kevin Youkilis aboard with a single, Beltre got an 0-1 fastball from A’s starter Gio Gonzalez and ripped it over the wall in left-center.

Unfortunately, Youkilis and Beltre were the only ones who showed up with their sticks, combining to for 5-for-8 (.625) with two runs scored, and 3 RBI, while the rest of the Red Sox went 3-for 25 (.120) with five strikeouts and ten men left of base.

On a positive note, Michael Bowden made his third appearance of the season and his second of the series, notching an inning and-a-third scoreless out of the bullpen. However, his efforts were all for naught, as the Red Sox dropped the game, and the series.



Final score: Red Sox 4, Athletics 6
WP: Gio Gonzalez (9-6)
LP: Clay Buchholz (10-5)
SV: Michael Wuertz (2)

Game notes: Clay Buchholz allowed two home runs on Wednesday, and had allowed three homers in his first fifteen starts combined. Adrian Beltre’s three-hit game was his second of the series, and his eleventh game of the season with at least three hits.

Eye of the scoreboard: It’s getting ugly. Of course, on a day where the Red Sox lost, the Rays and Yankees both picked up a win. The Yankees were in double digits against the Angels, defeating the Halos 10-6, as the Rays edged out the Orioles by a 5-4 score in Baltimore. As a result, the Red Sox fall 7.5 back of the Yankees, and 5.5 back of the Rays.

Tweet of the Night: @ScottLauber: Clay Buchholz: "We're the Red Sox. We’re good. We’re going to fight the adversity we have to go thru to get to the point we want to be at."

I can’t tell what’s bumming me out more: the Red Sox losing two straight, the AL East standings, or because there’s a soccer game being played at Fenway Park right now. It’s definitely all of the above. Anyway, this tweet picked me up, and hopefully it picks you up too.

-Jared Carrabis

Published on July 21, 2010

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